by Roland D. Hallee

Don’t ask why or how, but last week, while gathered with friends, I was asked a question about ferrets. Not knowing that much about them, I decided to look into it.

What I discovered about the little furry animals was most interesting.

Although I know a few people who have had ferrets as pets, I didn’t realize they were the third most popular pet, behind only dogs and cats. They are popular, although often controversial. My wife and I had a pet, 10-year-old, Holland lop rabbit. I would have bet, if I were a gambling man, and based on conversations with a multitude of people who care for them, that rabbits were more popular than ferrets.

Ferrets have the size and shape of a zucchini, and are related to European polecats. They are not to be confused with skunks which are sometimes colloquially called polecats, but related more to wolverines, ermines, minks and weasels.

The ancient Greeks probably domesticated ferrets about 2,500 years ago to hunt vermins. The practice spread across Europe, especially with sailors who used ferrets on ships to control rats. Ferrets were introduced to America in the 1700s.

A 1490 painting by Leonardo da Vinci named Lady with an Ermine, actually shows her holding a ferret.

Ferrets are carnivores, meaning they eat only meat. According to the American Ferret Association, domesticated ferrets typically eat factory-made chow. A healthy diet for pet ferrets consist of 36 percent protein, 20 percent fats and is low in carbohydrates. A healthy ferret will sleep up to 18 hours a day.

Male ferrets are known as hobs and females are called jills. In the wild, hobs and jills mate around March and April. Following a gestation period of 35 – 45 days, a jill will give birth to one to six kits. Kits will stay with the mother for about a month and a half, leaving the mother as autumn approaches. They become sexually active at one year old. In captivity ferrets can live up to 12 years, but the actual life expectancy is 7-10 years.

Unlike dogs, ferrets have not yet been rigorously studied when it comes to social cognition. According to Hungarian researchers, their early history in service to man is obscure, but have probably been domesticated for more than 2,000 years through selective breeding. Like dogs, ferrets were originally bred for practical reasons like hunting. However, their role within human society has since shifted, as they are now predominantly pets.

Most ferrets will live happily in social groups. A group of ferrets is commonly referred to as a “business.” They are territorial, like to burrow, and prefer to sleep in an enclosed area.

Ferrets can release their anal gland secretions when startled or scared, but the smell is much less potent than a skunk’s and dissipates rapidly. Most pet ferrets in the U.S. are sold de-scented (anal glands removed).

When excited, ferrets may perform a behavior commonly called the weasel war dance, characterized by a frenzied series of sideways hops, leaps and bumping into nearby objects. Despite its common name, this is not aggressive but is a joyful invitation to play. It is often accompanied by a soft clucking noise, commonly referred to as “dooking.” Conversely, when frightened, ferrets will make a hissing noise; when upset, they will make a soft ‘squeaking’ noise.

Although most domesticated ferrets were introduced by Europeans, there is only one that is native to North America. It is the black-footed ferret, and its existence is in trouble. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to use unmanned aerial drones to rain peanut-butter laced pellets down on northeast Montana, where the ferrets reside. The pellets contain a vaccine against the plague, which is common in prairie dogs. Prairie dogs consist of 90 percent of the ferret’s diet. As Americans moved west, prairie dog eradication programs and agriculture and development removed much of the ferrets’ prey and habitat, and by 1987 only 18 of the ferrets remained.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species categorizes black-footed ferrets as endangered. There are currently only around 206 mature adults in the wild and their population is decreasing. This is due greatly to the prairie dog population decline since prairie dogs are a major food and shelter source for wild ferrets. They will also eat small mammals such as opossums, rabbits, hedgehogs and rodents, but prairie dogs are the fare of choice.

So, by feeding the prairie dogs with the vaccine they would stay healthy, which in turn would help the black-footed ferrets.

So, domesticated ferrets don’t have it all that bad, like dogs and cats.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

What is the lowest scoring game in Super Bowl history?

Answer can be found here.

by Roland D. Hallee

This column was a long time coming. A couple of months ago, while driving to an engagement on Eustis Parkway, in Waterville, I noticed a grey squirrel cross the street in front of me. What’s so great about seeing a squirrel, you ask? Well, just a few weeks prior to this sighting, I had seen a black squirrel, in Vassalboro, which are somewhat rare. Well, this particular squirrel was even more rare. It’s tail was white on the tip. Never seen, or heard, that before.

Well, the reason it took so long to write this column is that there isn’t much information on them that I could find. My research took me to different parts of the country, but not in Maine. What does it mean when a squirrel has a white tail?

According to an article on globegazette.com, white-tailed squirrels are not albino squirrels. The color variation can come from a recessive trait that will occasionally appear in the genetic line. … If the mother has a white tail, that characteristic is carried to offspring.

I found that white-tailed antelope squirrels are found in the southwestern United States and the Baja California Peninsula of northwestern Mexico. Their range extends north to south from southwestern Oregon to New Mexico, and east to west from western Colorado to Baja California, Mexico.

So, what about here, in central Maine?

White-tailed squirrels are uncommon but locally they can become common. James H. Harding, an instructor and outreach specialist in the Department of Zoology at the Michigan State University Museum, comments: “These unusual squirrel coloration variations are not rare; they can turn up in any population and are probably related to the same types of genetic (or developmental) variants that can lead to albino (white) and melanistic (dark, black) individuals,” he said.

“Because inheritance of color involves many genes, and can be modified by environmental factors, it is more common to see these partially odd-colored variations. Presumably, these types of anomalies would be more common in suburban and urban areas, where inbreeding can occur, due to partial isolation of populations hemmed in by roads and other human activities.

“In addition, whereas wild squirrels with white tails might be more likely to be seen and killed by a predator, in the city they are more protected from these dangers.”

Of course, the fox squirrel also comes into play. In the western part of its range, it is gray above and rust colored on its undersides. In the southern part of its range, it is black and brown with a white stripe on its face and a white tip on its tail. The fox squirrel is also known as the eastern fox squirrel.

The fox squirrel’s natural range extends through most of the eastern United States, north into the southern prairie provinces of Canada, and west to the Dakotas, Colorado, and Texas. They are absent (except for vagrants) in New England, New Jersey, most of New York, northern and eastern Pennsylvania, Ontario, Québec, and the Atlantic provinces of Canada. More questions arise from this information, but not enough answers.

In Osage, Iowa, Vince Evelsizer, a wildlife biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, says the white-tailed squirrels are “unique.”

The white-tailed squirrel is also described in old folklore. What does seeing a white-tailed squirrel mean? They can be symbolic of good luck, especially because they’re so rare that you’re unlikely to find them. But when you do, they might symbolize good luck to you in the future. Peace. This type of squirrel is also symbolic of peace.

White squirrels also exist, but are far more rare than a white-tailed squirrel. Albino gray squirrels are the rarest form of white squirrel. Mammalogists estimate that the odds of a female gray squirrel giving birth to an albino offspring are 1 in 100,000.

Based on what I could find, the squirrel I saw that day in October could, and possibly was, a vagrant eastern fox squirrel. It all happened so fast I didn’t get a really good look at the rest of the coloration. But the white-tipped tail was very obvious.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

Now that the Detroit Lions finally won a game, can you name the five NFL teams to go winless in a season, since 1944?

Answer can be found here.

by Roland D. Hallee

Thanksgiving is here again, and is the unofficial kick off point for the holiday season. Turkeys are the main fare at the dinner table on that day. So what do we know about the wild gobbler?

The wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is an upland ground bird native to North America. Although native to North America, the turkey probably got its name from the domesticated variety being imported to Britain in ships coming from the Levant via Spain. The British at the time, therefore, associated the wild turkey with the country Turkey and the name prevails.

Wild turkeys prefer hardwood and mixed conifer-hardwood forests with scattered openings such as pastures, fields, orchards and seasonal marshes. They seemingly can adapt to virtually any dense native plant community as long as coverage and openings are widely available.

Despite their weight, wild turkeys, unlike their domesticated counterparts, are agile, fast fliers. In ideal habitat of open woodland or wooded grasslands, they may fly beneath the canopy top and find perches. They usually fly close to the ground for no more than a quarter mile.

Wild turkeys have very good eyesight, but their vision is very poor at night. They will not see a predator until it is too late. At twilight most turkeys will head for the trees and roost well off the ground; it is safer to sleep here in numbers than to risk being victim to predators who hunt by night. Because wild turkeys don’t migrate, in snowier parts of the species’s habitat like the Northeast, it is very important for this bird to learn to select large conifer trees where they can fly onto the branches and shelter from blizzards.

Wild turkeys are omnivorous, foraging on the ground or climbing shrubs and small trees to feed. They prefer eating acorns, nuts and other hard mast of various trees, including hazel, chestnut, hickory, and pinyon pine as well as various seeds, berries such as juniper and bearberry, roots and insects. Turkeys also occasionally consume amphibians and small reptiles such as lizards and small snakes.

Turkey populations can reach large numbers in small areas because of their ability to forage for different types of food. Early morning and late afternoon are the desired times for eating.

Males are polygamous, mating with as many hens as they can. Male wild turkeys display for females by puffing out their feathers, spreading out their tails and dragging their wings. This behavior is most commonly referred to as strutting.

Predators of eggs and nestlings include raccoons, striped skunks, groundhogs, and other rodents. Avian predators of poults include raptors such as bald eagles, barred owl, and Harris’s hawks, and even the smallish Cooper’s hawk and broad-winged hawk.

Predators of both adults and poults include coyotes, gray wolves, bobcats, cougars, Canadian lynx, golden eagles and possibly American black bears

Occasionally, if cornered, adult turkeys may try to fight off predators, and large male toms can be especially aggressive in self-defense. When fighting off predators, turkeys may kick with their legs, using the spurs on their back of the legs as a weapon, bite with their beak and ram with their relatively large bodies and may be able to deter predators up to the size of mid-sized mammals. Occasionally, turkeys may behave aggressively towards humans, especially in areas where natural habitats are scarce. They also have been seen to chase off humans as well. However, attacks can usually be deterred and minor injuries can be avoided by giving turkeys a respectful amount of space and keeping outdoor spaces clean and undisturbed. Male toms occasionally will attack parked cars and reflective surfaces thinking they see another turkey and must defend their territory. Usually a car engine and moving the car is enough to scare it off.

At the beginning of the 20th century the range and numbers of wild turkeys had plummeted due to hunting and loss of habitat. When Europeans arrived in the New World, they were found from Canada to Mexico in the millions. Europeans and their successors knew nothing about the life cycle of the bird and ecology, itself, as a science would come too late, not even in its infancy, until the end of the 19th century whereas heavy hunting began in the 17th century. Deforestation destroyed trees turkeys need to roost in.

Game managers estimate that the entire population of wild turkeys in the United States was as low as 30,000 by the late 1930s. By the 1940s, it was almost totally extirpated from Canada and had become localized in pockets in the United States. In the northeast they were restricted to the Appalachians, only as far north as central Pennsylvania. Early attempts used hand reared birds, a practice that failed miserably as the birds were unable to survive.

Wild turkeys were once native to Maine but were extirpated in the early 1800s from overhunting and the clearing of forests along the coast. But in 1978, wild turkey were successfully reintroduced in Maine by state biologists – and the birds have thrived since.

But not everybody is so enthusiastic about the state’s success in reintroducing wild turkeys, which began back in the 1970s in York County. In fact, plenty of Mainers think we have far too many turkeys on the landscape and blame the birds for a variety of ills.

In some parts of the state, there are a lot of turkeys. And though the state deals with few calls about nuisance turkeys, there are places where efforts to limit the number of birds might make sense.

However, these big birds get a bum rap and are blamed for a variety of problems. If you see a flock of turkeys in a blueberry field at noontime, you might blame the birds for eating all the berries. But there are deer, bear, moose, foxes and other critters in that blueberry field at night, doing damage.

Do we have too many turkeys?

It all depends on whether the birds are eating your crops, or foiling your attempts to hunt them.

Had it been up to Benjamin Franklin, the turkey we carve for Thanksgiving dinner might have been our national bird. After the bald eagle won the honor instead, Franklin wrote to his daughter that the turkey was “more respectable” than the eagle, which he thought was “of bad moral character,” calling them lazy, opportunistic predators.

Franklin expressed admiration for the feisty way barnyard turkeys defended their territory, a trait he liked in Americans, too. It’s not clear, however, whether Franklin knew much about wild turkeys, which ran and hid from intruders instead of defending their turf. Indeed, some Apache Indians thought turkeys were so cowardly that they wouldn’t eat them or wear their feathers for fear of contracting the spirit of cowardice.

So Franklin probably wasn’t thinking about the wild turkey when he considered possible symbols of American courage. But the domestic or barnyard turkey he admired did have its origins in America’s wild turkey population.

Aztec Indian tribes had long domesticated wild turkeys for food. Early Spanish explorers discovered these domesticated turkeys and took a few of them back to Europe, where the birds were bred into yet another variety of domestic turkey.

Those European turkeys came to North America with English colonists and were used for food. They are the birds Franklin seems to have preferred over the native bald eagle for our national symbol.

So, even though the bald eagle is the official bird of the United States, much to the chagrin of Benjamin Franklin, it must be pointed out that on Thanksgiving day, the wild turkey is the national “bird of the day,” even though most of us actually consume domesticated turkeys.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

The Buffalo Bills appeared in four consecutive Super Bowls from 1990-1993. Have there ever been teams to appear in three in a row?

Answer can be found here.

by Roland D. Hallee

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a lot of different birds coming to our feeders, and I compared the situation with the Alfred Hitchcock thriller film, The Birds. Well, I have another chapter in that episode. I have noticed recently the high number of crows, or ravens, that have been hanging around my house. Just the other day, I saw seven of them sitting in my pine trees in the backyard. They are huge birds.

Just to draw a comparison, there was a grey squirrel – either Martha or Stewart, my resident squirrels, are pretty good sized squirrels – on one of the other branches, and these birds made it look like a field mouse. The squirrel was dwarfed by these birds. They were also licking their chops. However, the crows’ stout bill is not strong enough to break through the skin.

Later that day, while driving by the park that is located at the end of my street, there were about two dozen of these birds feeding on the banking that was bare of snow.

Where are they coming from. And are they crows, or ravens like some people are calling them?

Well, to cut to the chase, crows have a fan-shaped tail, while ravens’ tails are wedge-shaped. The birds I’m looking at have a fan-shaped tail. Obviously, there are a few differences between the two species. Most of the differences are noticeable when the two are together. However, crows will assemble in large flocks, while ravens tend to be solitary, until the fall migration.

When you see one of the black birds, identifying it can present a real challenge. But their slight differences in size, anatomy, voice and behavior can help you tell them apart.

Common ravens are noticeably bigger; their wingspans can be 46 inches in total length while the distance between their beak tips and tail tips can reach 27 inches. Compare that with American crows, who’ve got 36-inch wingspans and grow to be just 20 inches long from end to end.

The wings themselves look different, too. At the tips you’ll see the finger-like primary feathers that birds use to propel themselves through the air. Because ravens soar more often than crows do, they’ve got longer primaries. Crow tail feathers are arranged in the shape of a gently-curved, handheld fan. On the other hand, a raven’s tail ends in a point, giving it a diamond-like appearance. Ravens also have shaggy feathers under their throats, which crows lack.

Bill shape is yet another point of difference: Unlike the straight-beaked American crow, the common raven has a curved, somewhat knife-like beak.

When it comes to sociability, the two birds are light years apart. Crows amass themselves in large flocks — or “murders” — and may roost together at night in huge clusters of several hundred birds. Ravens are less gregarious, preferring to fly in pairs or in tight-knit family units. Their habitat preferences vary, as well. American crows generally favor wide open spaces while common ravens tend to hang out in forests.

Both the crows and the ravens are highly intelligent birds. Perhaps the most intelligent. The two can learn to imitate a variety of sounds, including the human voice. Recent research has found crows not only use tools, but also tool construction. Their intelligence quotient is equal to that of many non-human primates.

Also, American crows can learn to recognize the faces of people who’ve tried to attack them while common ravens have shown both impulse control and active planning in lab experiments.

There is a story that indicates crows know how to count. The story has not been substantiated, but it goes like this: Three hunters enter a hunters’ blind. They wait, the crows know they are in there. The crows don’t move. Two hunters leave the blind, and the crows still don’t move. Once the third hunter leaves, the crows know they are gone and resume their normal activity.

Crows also have a good memory, remembering where there is danger, and where their cache of food is for later consumption.

Predators include owls and hawks. Crows will gather together to move an offending or intruding owl or hawk. However, West Nile disease has been taking its toll on crow populations.

A couple of years ago, while fishing on Webber Pond, my wife and I noticed a large flock of crows headed for a tree that sat on a point. Apparently, a bald eagle was intruding on a nest. The crows mobbed the eagle and drove it off. That was interesting to watch.

So, taking all these things into consideration, the large black birds hanging around my house are most likely crows. But the question as to where they come from and why they are hanging around, has not been answered. In the past, I have seen extremely large numbers of crows fly overhead in late fall. They seem to be coming from the river and continue in a northwesterly direction, darkening the sky as they passed. This year, they are making themselves right at home around my house.

Myths and folktales about these birds are almost too numerous to count. The Norse god Odin was said to have talking ravens who’d fly around the world gathering news for their divine master. And a story of Lakota-Sioux origin says that the forefather of all crows was once tossed into a fire as punishment for his misdeeds, hence the dark feathers of his progeny.

I will continue to investigate.

Roland’s trivia question of the week:

What do you call it when a player makes three consecutive strikes in bowling?

Answer can be found here.